IndyCar will judge fan reaction before committing to more Thermal Club races

IndyCar’s CEO says the series will heed the reaction of fans to its first event at the Thermal Club this weekend before deciding whether to hold more.

The private club in California will host the series’ first non-championship round for 16 years, starting on Friday.

IndyCar held a pre-season test on the 4.935km, 17-turn course last year. It is to return for a further test and has added a non-points contest with a $1.7m (£1.3m) prize fund involving qualifying, two heats and an ‘all-star’ final.

The event was originally conceived as a Pro-Am contest. Each IndyCar driver was to be paired with a Thermal Club member and their shared rankings determined by the IndyCar race plus a separate sports car race for the club members. The latter was dropped, though club members will still receive a share of the drivers’ winnings.

IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said the event came about due to the availability of the track, convenient television broadcast timings and a gap in IndyCar’s schedule arising from the loss of its race at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We did a two-day open test there in February,” said Miles. “This is something that we always do in the pre-season. So we just really moved that to this weekend.”

“We had an opportunity on the calendar in the spring and Thermal had the kind of climate that seemed like it could work,” he added. “I think all the teams had a great experience there for our first visit last year. So it seemed like it just made sense.”

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The Thermal Club was created by Tim and Twanna Rogers and opened in 2012. “The Rogers’ family has been phenomenal to commit and to work through how this can be a good thing for them and the members of the club as well as IndyCar and especially our team,” said Miles.

“I’m excited to see this format,” he added. “I’ve never been to a heat race before or an all-star race of this type and, I think it’s just going to be sensational to see what happens.”

As The Thermal Club is a private venue it doesn’t have facilities for a large crowd to attend. The event has been conceived as a ‘made for television’ spectacle.

Miles said the series will consider the reception from fans and others to the novel format and new venue before committing to a return.

“We will have our ear to the ground with our key stakeholders,” he said. “First of all, I think the Rogers have to like it. It has to be a good experience for them as the owners of the club. I’m sure that the club members’ attitudes will be reflected in Tim Rogers’ attitude. So that’s an important, fundamental early thing.

“We’ll see how fans react. We’ll have a good sense from social media on the fan reaction to the racing. There’ll be some of our sponsors out there, teams, obviously, team owners will be out there.

“We’ll just take everybody’s temperature after the fact. I know the temperature was really in a good place after the test last year. People really enjoyed being there. Maybe raised some questions about the racing. I hope we’ve addressed them and we expect to have a really good weekend that people enjoy.”

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